New grips for my UCII

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:26 pm

I decided to make a set of grips for my Kimber UCII. The only set I have are the CT grips that came on it. I was going through some old knife handle material I used in the early 80's when I made custom knives. I found some Rosewood , std brown wood grain, and bone Micarta. So I decided to make as set using the rosewood Micarta. The only down side is it can chip easily if the edges get too thin. I left the front edge long (1/16") to blend with the front strap. The top edge is tall too, I may lower it to follow the plunger tube. There is no finish on these and stopped sanding at 600 grit. I will shoot with them the next trip and then decide if I need to try my hand at checking.

I have a very limited supply of this Micarta, 3/16", 5/16" and 3/8". I'm not even sure they make this particular micarta any more. But have quite a bit of some German Linen Micarta ( 2 sqft) from the 70's. The German Micarta is made of real wood with linen and is a lot easier to work with. These are for a full size 1911.

I did all of the drilling using my end mill to get the spacing correct. I reground some letter drill bits to do the step drilling for the bushing shoulder and screw heads. Using the end mill it was easy to control the depth this way. I did not realize that there is only a 0.010" Max compression on the grips. This explains why grip screws sometimes remove the bushing, they bottom out if over tightened, metal to metal contact. This has happen to me on my UCII. I use a Teflon washer under my grip screws to prevent this now.

Hakaman · Post by **Hakaman** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:23 pm

Very nice job, and impressive skill on your part.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:32 pm

They took some time to make. I had to make fixtures to hold the grip panels so I could take them to my sander. Being thin (1/4") they hard to hold onto. But a block of wood with to 1/4" holes the spacing of the grip screws and 2 dowel rods worked nicely. I used the end mill to cut the slot for the plunger tube, kind of cheating. I think the custom grip makers are using routers for these. Online guides have you using a Dremel tool which would work too but not near the control. I used a round file for the mag release.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:38 am

Very nice looking grips.

R,
Bullseye